Filmmaker Amit Dutta's Rhythm of a Flower and Nocturnes, directed by Anirban Dutta and Anupama Srinivasan, won top honours at the closing ceremony of the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival 2024 here on Thursday. The film gala, organised by the Mumbai Academy of the Moving Image (MAMI), came to a close with a ceremony where the South Asia Competition jury awarded the Golden Gateway Award to Rhythm of a Flower (Phool Ka Chand) and the Silver Gateway Award to Nocturnes. The jury was led by Rada Sesic and included Clarence Tsui, Kate Laurie, Jerome Baron, and Marie Fuglestein Laegreid.
The Special Jury Prize was presented to Manoj Bajpayee's film The Fable, directed by Raam Reddy.
Shuchi Talati's Girls Will Be Girls, which is produced by actor couple Richa Chadha and Ali Fazal, was honoured with a Special Mention.
"I know what we all went through during the making of The Fable. It all started before COVID-19, so we went back, and then we again went back up the mountain. We waited patiently as we all believed in the film. I would like to thank Raam for considering me for this film," Bajpayee said.
Girls Will Be Girls also received the NETPAC Award and was honoured with the Film Critics Guild Gender Sensitivity Award for challenging traditional gender stereotypes and advancing nuanced narratives. Additionally, the film was recognised with the Rashid Irani Young Critics Choice Award.
While receiving the award for her co-production, Richa Chadha said the recognition means a lot to her and the team of Girls Will Be Girls.
"This will always be an Indian film, even if it's an international co-production. Kudos to the MAMI Film Festival for pulling it off. It's always about the freedom of expression, and that is what matters," Chadha said.
Fazal added, "I've been watching the entire process of filmmaking from the sidelines. Richa and I are co-producers with multiple others. It has been the most humbling and huge learning process as actors to watch Shuchi at play and all the actors." Talati, a first-time director, said she is overwhelmed by the accolades her movie has received.
"I feel sometimes filmmakers make a distinction between art-house, independent, and commercial cinema, as if this particular genre will only have a small section of the audience. But I feel what we are taking away from the awards and from the screenings is the love the audience gave to our film," she said.
In Dimensions Mumbai, a sidebar section of the festival, the Gold Award went to BMCLD by Shreela Agarwal. The Silver Award was shared by A Tale of Two Cities by Sameeha Sabnis and I Was Painted Red by Bhagyesh Rajeshirke.
The Dimensions Mumbai jury included Amit Masurkar, Chaitanya Tamhane, and Paromita Vohra.
The awards for the Royal Stag Barrel Select Large Short Films were also announced.
The best film award went to "Ade (On A Sunday)" by Theja Rio, while the Special Jury Prize went to "Coming Back to Life (Et Moi, Je Revis)" by Mantra Watsa for excellence in short filmmaking.
The jury of this segment included actors Aditi Rao Hydari, Rajshri Deshpande, and filmmaker Hansal Mehta.
In addition to these awards, the MAMI festival also celebrated contributions to cinema with the Best Book on Cinema award given to The Age of Heroes: The Incredible World of Telugu Cinema by Mukesh Manjunath.
The closing ceremony was followed by the screening of Sean Baker's Anora, which had its South Asia premiere. Earlier this year, the film won the Palme d'Or at the 77th Cannes Film Festival.
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